Community News Feb 27, 2012
There will be a poetry reading at Castaway Books Friday, March 16. Owner Kitty Parr reminds the public that the 2012 Be a Castaway Contest on Marie’s Island just upstream of the town is fast approaching and promises to be a great time for both participants and spectators. She cautions spectators against bringing small children to the island as there has been frequent nudity seen in the past as well as coarse language. In conjunction with the contest, all copies of Robinson Crusoe, The Swiss Family Robinson, and Lord of the Flies will be sold at half-price.
Mr. Burson of Burson’s Hardware wishes to remind the public to write legibly when buying merchandise during his lunch hour. Several patrons have overpaid in recent weeks but due to the illegibility of the invoices, he is unable to identify the customers for reimbursement. He further remarked that if such overpayment continues he will be forced to close the hardware store from 12-1 pm.
Ned Hammer reported an unidentified flying object to the northeast last Saturday night, in the general direction of “Amish Town.” He stated the unknown object was circular, had graphics on the side which he thought were similar to the Keebler logo, and hovered above the treetops for several moments before suddenly disappearing. Nippy Keen, who lives in the general area of the sighting, said he saw nothing unusual but stated that Curly Dowd was seen in the vicinity earlier in the evening. A call from the Evening Shade to the Keebler Corporation was not returned.
Edna Minzel says her oven has quit working and would someone please let her use theirs to bake cookies for her nephew’s wedding.
Wid Coulter found a pair of men’s leather gloves on the statue at the park and wishes to return them to the owner.
Inspiration From A Dead Nurse
She may not be dead. I don’t know. The Cherry Ames Nurse series for teenage girls was first published in 1943, the fictional Cherry having been born circa 1925, so she could be alive. Either way she’s given her last enema. How I happen to own a dozen books from the series is simply too humiliating to mention, so I won’t. No, I haven’t read them but inspiration comes from strange and unexpected places.
I have always enjoyed book-cover art, from the classic Scribner’s illustrations of N. C. Wyeth to the numerous unknown artists who truly deserve their anonymity. Wouldn’t it be fun to find an old book and give it a new dust-wrapper incorporating a photo and graphics custom-tailored to the sitter?
Let’s use an example: Gus Customer’s favorite book is Robinson Crusoe. 
He reads it yearly by candlelight in a hut with a dirt floor while eating moldy cheese and scratching himself with dirty fingernails, just for atmosphere. Gus enjoys his individuality so he’s open to the book-cover idea. All he needs to do is schedule his shoot, gather up some goatskin clothes (which he probably already has), a rusty gun, a suitable parrot in the proper colors, and a cannibal. Pick’s Photo will take care of the rest, though Gus would probably have to show proof of insurance in case the cannibal ate one of the staff.
The possibilities are simply endless. It could be something retro such as a pulp paperback from the forties, a bestselling novel, a how-to book, child’s series, mystery, horror, anything. If there’s a suitable guinea pig call Pick’s Photo and we’ll talk about it.
Incidentally, anyone want to buy some Cherry Ames books?
